


Remembrance

by muppet8003



Category: Plague Tale: Innocence (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Memories, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Period Typical Attitudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 21:23:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20032564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muppet8003/pseuds/muppet8003
Summary: Shortly after escaping the Inquisition with her children, Beatrice awakes to see Amicia making a simple memorial to her fallen friends. Curious, Beatrice asks to learn more about her daughter's fallen friends.





	Remembrance

Beatrice de Rune groggily awoke in the cart that had become her family’s new home. Still recovering from her…treatment at the hands of the Inquisition, Beatrice considered just going back to sleep until movement in the corner of her eye caught the former noblewoman’s attention. She, slowly and carefully, shifted into a sitting position to see her daughter carving something into the side of the cart.

“What are you doing, Amicia?” Beatrice quietly asked, careful not to wake Hugo.

A surprised Amicia glanced at her mother, an embarrassed blush spreading on her face. “It’s…nothing.”

“No, please tell me.” Beatrice insisted, leaning forward. On closer inspection she could now see that her daughter had carved four crosses into the cart wall, each with a letter in it; from left to right A, R, L, and M.

“They’re…for our friends. Arthur, Rodric, Lucas, and Melie.” Amicia explained, “They’ll never get a proper burial and no one will even remember them…I just, wanted them to have some kind of memorial.”

Beatrice’s heart ached for her daughter. The highborn alchemist had been given a rapid fire account of her children’s relationship with the four slain orphans from Hugo. After some thought, she’d almost been amused, assuming her boy’s praising words were anything to go by. Her late husband’s banner-men, most of whom had fought beside him in battle, had immediately started squabbling over who got to request what part of House de Rune’s lands be granted to them. Beatrice’s own allies in Paris, respected nobles, scholars, and alchemists wasted no time in condemning and distancing themselves from the de Runes. Vitalis had made sure she knew all this.

And yet these peasants, these foul mouthed lowborn orphans, had been there for her children in their time of need. Each one had directly or indirectly saved both Amicia and Hugo’s lives. And Beatrice would never get a chance to repay any of them.

Careful of her injuries, Beatrice shuffled over until she was seated next to her daughter, both of them facing the crosses. She wrapped her arm around Amicia’s shoulders, giving the girl a comforting squeeze when the younger de Rune leaned against her.

“Tell me about them, please.”

Amicia seemed to take a moment to compose herself, then nodded her head. She reached out and touched her hand to the first cross. “Arthur, he and his sister were runaways. I didn’t get to know him as well as I’d of liked. But…we understood each other.”

#*#*#

Arthur was in a good mood. The thief had snuck into a nobleman’s abandoned summer home and returned to the castle with his pockets loaded with slightly stale but nonetheless fine food. The prize, however, was a bottle of wine and the former battlefield looter fully intended to partake in the red brew.

The young thief had just worked the cork out with his knife when a displeased looking Amicia made her way into the group’s common room. Arthur briefly considered just minding his own business but ultimately cleared his throat and asked. “Trouble, Amicia?”

“Just had an argument with Hugo,” Amicia explained with a sigh. “I swear, I love him, but sometimes...I just want to...”

“Strangle him?” Arthur helpfully finished. The former noble girl nodded guiltily, “Don’t worry, I’ve had the same thought about Melie many times. Part of being an older sibling, I guess.”

“Aren’t you two twins?”

“Well...yes, but I was born a few minutes earlier,” Arthur explained, allowing himself a cocky grin, “Thus, I’m older.”

Amicia chuckled. “I guess it’s not as bad as before we found this place. I’d literally be trying to figure out a way to keep us from being killed and Hugo would start whining so I’d have to get stern with him. Then he’d get all upset and somehow I end up feeling like the bad guy when I’m just trying to protect him.”

Arthur nodded empathetically. “Sometimes it feels like Melie is dedicated to arguing with me about everything. She’ll dig in her heels on one point one day, then fight just as hard for the opposite another.”

“Guess we have to do our best,” Amicia said with a resigned shrug, “After all, they’re worth it in the end.” 

Arthur mulled the girl’s words over for a moment and nodded, “You know what, I’ll drink to that.”

The looter filled two goblets with the pilfered wine and offered one to Amicia. They clicked their drinks to gather and downed them in one.

#*#*#

“Nicholas killed him,” Amicia explained simply, hard edge setting into her voice. 

#*#*#

Arthur slammed the large rock he’d grabbed down on Lord Nicholas’s head, twice. The young thief raised the stone for a third blow, but hesitated. The Grand Inquisitor’s right hand wasn’t moving, there was blood oozing out of his helmet. Decided the task was done, Arthur lowered and dropped the stone and turned back toward the reunion between Amicia and Hugo. The teenage looter smiled at the heartwarming sight.

Then a sword burst through his chest.

Arthur fell to his knees after Nicholas ripped his weapon free, vaguely aware of Amicia and Hugo calling his name. He rolled onto his back, looking up at the dark sky, tinted red by the flames around him. Arthur knew he was going to die, but clung on, desperately hoping to see his sister one last time. 

He took his last breath just as Melie’s face appeared above him.

#*#*#

Amicia removed her hand from Arthur’s cross, letting a few moments of silence pass. She then reached out again, touching her fingertips to the second cross, baring the R. “This was Rodric, a blacksmith’s son. He had a fiery temper, but a good heart.”

#*#*#

“You worthless hunk of shit!” Rodric yelled, stomping on his latest, failed, work on his forge. He stopped, however, when he heard sniffling from Hugo, who’d been watching Amicia practice with her sling nearby. Shooting Amicia an apologetic look, he took a breath to compose himself and walked up to Hugo, kneeling down to be (close to) the boy’s level. “I’m sorry, li’l guy…do you want to try a game my dad and I used to play when I was your size? Think we could both use some fun.”

Hugo wiped at his eyes, but smiled up at the older boy and nodded. “O-okay, how do you play?”

“Just leave that to me.” Rodric smirked. He casually grabbed Hugo and lifted the boy up as he rose to his feet, laying the younger de Rune on his side across the teen’s shoulders.

“Careful!” A concerned Amicia called.

“It’s alright, I got him,” Rodric assured her, “Alright, Hugo, here we go!”

Rodric began very quickly spinning where he stood, much to the glee of his young passenger. Hugo laughed merrily and exclaimed that everything was speeding by. For her part, Amicia was amazed at just how long the teen blacksmith was able to go before having to stop. Rodric finally, somewhat dizzily, crouching down to let his joyfully laughing passenger down just as Lucas had peaked in to see what all the fuse was about.

“Lucas, it was so wonderful!” Hugo said to his friend, “You should try it, too!”

“I’m sure it was very nice, Hugo,” was Lucas’s diplomatic response, “But I should get back to my laboratory.”

“Oh no,” Rodric said, cutting off Lucas’s route to the door. “A kid your age can’t go all day everyday without playing. It’s a sin.”

“…I’m fairly certain thaaaahhhhh!” Having none of the boy’s objections, Rodric unceremoniously lifted the boy up onto his shoulders and was spinning him in moments. Amicia and Hugo laughed as Lucas’s shouts of fear and demands for release reluctantly gave way to laughter and yells of joy.

#*#*#

“He sounds like a good man,” Beatrice said with a smile.

“He was,” Amicia agreed, though her pleased look quickly turned sad, “In a way that’s what killed him.”

#*#*#

“Aaaaahhh! That all you fuckin’ pussies have!?” Rodric shouted as yet another arrow struck him, continuing to push the wagon for his friends to use as cover. “You should stick to penetrating choir boys if that’s the best you can do to a real man!”

The young smith didn’t let up until his friends were safely out of range of the Inquisition archers. The group approached the lowered portcullis in their way as the archers repositioned. Amicia, Hugo, Melie, and Lucas all tried to lift the defensive fixture, to no avail. Gently brushing them aside, he ignored the pain and lifted the barrier by himself, just as the archers began firing again.

“Everyone, go! I’ll follow!” Rodric knew it was a lie, but he couldn’t let anything happen to his friends. The other orphans ducked under the portcullis as Rodric felt a final arrow puncture his back. Not that it mattered, his friends were safe.

Rodric let the wooden grate fall, cutting off any pursuit. Feeling his great strength slip away, the blacksmith’s son sank to the ground, looking at his friends through the barrier. He felt Hugo’s hand on his face and Amicia interlocking their fingers as his life slipped away. Rodric took a deep breath and spoke his last words.

“I’m sorry.”

#*#*#

Amicia wiped away a tear with the back of her hand and moved on to the third cross. “Lucas, he was Laurentius’s apprentice.”

“I met him once,” Beatrice said, thoughtfully, “A nice boy, and seemed quite intelligent.”

Amicia chuckled “You’re quite right, Mother. He was the second youngest, but probably far wiser than the rest of us put together.”

#*#*#

“Lucas, can we look now?” An annoyed Melie asked.

“Just a moment,” the four teens heard their friend say, “Okay, open your eyes!”

The teens did as instructed to find each of them now had one of the bottles Lucas used to mix his alchemical concoctions in front of them. They exchanged unsure looks, Arthur and Amicia lifting up their respective bottles to inspect them. It was Rodric who spoke first, “Uh, thanks Lucas…what is this stuff?”

“Oh, well,” Lucas began, picking up a fifth bottle for himself. “I found and repaired an old lunar calendar and using it was able to deduce that today is Christmas.”

“Wait, it’s Christmas today?” Arthur asked

“I wasn’t even sure if it was still December,” Melie muttered.

“So I wanted to do something special for you all,” Lucas continued, “And I used whatever ingredients I could scrape together and a little alchemy to brew these up. I tried to tailer each one for your specific tastes.”

The touched older children sat silently, some exchanging looks, for a short while. Then they pulled their friend into a group hug.

#*#*#

“He would of made a brilliant alchemist,” Beatrice observed, just before noticing that Hugo had at some point joined her and Amicia, leaning against her other side.

“He WAS a brilliant alchemist,” the boy corrected.

“It’s true,” Amicia agreed with a bittersweet look, “I guess you could even say he died doing what he loved.”

#*#*#

“STOP!!” Lucas barked with such authority that the surprised Inquisition soldiers did indeed halt in their tracks. The apprentice alchemist stepped protectively out in front of his remaining friends, holding a large piece of Luminosa over his head and gesturing to the barrels of unstable substances in the room. He fixed the men with a stern glare and warned “If you kill me or I drop this, it’ll spark a chain reaction and we’ll all die!”

The Inquisition soldiers shifted uncertainly, not quite willing to see if the boy was bluffing. Keeping his eyes on the group’s attackers, Lucas gestured for his friends to make their way toward the door and slowly followed, inching backwards and insuring he was between the soldiers and his friends. The armored men cautiously pursued, looking more and more like they just might try to rush the boy.

At last, Melie, Amicia, and Hugo shuffled into the hallway outside the storage room. Amicia looked back to the alchemical prodigy and beckoned, “All right, Lucas, come on!”

Unfortunately, before his friend even called, Lucas could see the Inquisition men were going to attack. He dared glance back to his friends for the last time and shouted “I love you all!”

Lucas through the Luminosa at the nearest barrel and a moment later violent explosions ripped through the entire room.

#*#*#

“And last is Melie,” Amicia said, affectionately laying her palm on the last cross.

“I liked her, even if she did use a lot of bad words,” Hugo said with a smile.

“You must of liked having another girl around, my dear,” Beatrice said, rubbing comforting circles into Amicia’s back.

“Yes,” Amicia agreed, “She and I were…close.”

#*#*#

High at the top Château d’Ombrage's tallest remaining tower, Amicia and Melie sat in comfortable silence, far from prying eyes. Despite the ample room, the girls where cuddled up right next to each other, with Amicia practically sitting in Melie’s lap, the thief’s head resting on top of the noble girl’s and their hands intertwined.

Sighing in content, Amicia whispered, just loud enough for Melie to hear, “I love you.”

#*#*#

“I could tell,” Beatrice said compassionately, side hugging Amicia, “At least she passed peacefully.”

#*#*#

Melie smiled and waved reassuringly down to Amicia and Hugo after dropping Vitalis’s last henchman to his death. She was careful to keep the stab wound in her gut hidden behind the railing. She worked the contraption to lower the caged woman, the de Rune Siblings’ mother apparently, and made her own way down. Once the Grand Inquisitor was finally, thankfully, dead, the red-haired thief picked the lock on the older Lady de Rune’s cage and watched as the family was reunited. Melie smiled at the sight, glad the dim light and her dark clothing had kept anyone from noticing her likely mortal wound. She didn’t want to spoil the moment. 

Despite feeling cold and weak, Melie was happy. Her brother was avenged, the Inquisition-or at least Vitalis and his minion-was destroyed, Amicia and Hugo were safe and back with their last remaining family. Yes, Melie thought, settling down to sit on the floor, all in all in was a good outcome. Melie decided to give the de Rune’s as much time as they needed. She would just sit and rest for a bit. Yes, just a quick rest. Perhaps she should rest her eyes, for just a little while.

Melie managed to avoid spoiling the happy reunion, the de Runes didn’t notice her condition until just after she passed.

#*#*#

The de Rune’s sat in respectful silence, looking over the simple memorial. Beatrice looked carefully at each cross, each letter, with a grateful smile. The noble lady looked down to her children and then back toward the crosses one more time. 

“Thank you all.”

**Author's Note:**

> At one point, it occurred to me that, due to Arthur and Rodric's deaths, Beatrice would never get a chance to meet, much less thank or repay, two of the four kids who'd helped her children. It seemed quite tragic, and I got the idea to write a quick story where they have a kind of honorary funeral for the boys. Then I got the idea to go full Rogue One and slaughter ALL the Orphans...because apparently I'm just evil. For what it's worth, I also plan to put out a story exploring the opposite scenario where they all survive and Beatrice adopts the Orphans and everything's generally awesome.
> 
> A few other quick notes, yes I did basically copy-paste my short story 'Siblings' into this for the Arthur Bonding Scene. So what, wanna fight about it? On the Lucas Bonding Scene, while I realize it's a pretty far off season, it occurred to me that, since the story begins in November and ends in January, that means Christmas passed during the second time jump. Lastly, apologies if the sappy-ness levels got a bit much for you, dear reader.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed my writing, everyone.


End file.
